Mystery man

The shorter the campaign, the easier it is for a longshot unknown to pull off a surprise win. I have a feeling this campaign isn’t short enough for Gabriel Gomez.

A week before the special election for U.S. Senate, Gomez is something of a mystery man. Ask him any question, and the answer is he was a SEAL. Ask him again and he’ll say he’s had a successful career in the business world. But he won’t talk about what he did in the SEALs, and he won’t talk about what he worked on in the private sector.

At an ed board this week, I noted that he’d never held public office, never been involved in public policy, never been a legislator and, other than the military, never worked in government. In the private sector, would you hire someone with so little direct experience? What if you needed heart surgery?

He said serving in the Senate isn’t the same thing as heart surgery. OK, but that doesn’t make it an easy job. Doing it right takes brains, initiative, courage, judgement, and a dozen other skills. What in Gomez’ background shows he has those things? He won’t say.

But Gomez does show a penchant for saying things that just aren’t true. In the first debate he declared Markey had authored no significant legislation in 20 years. In the final debate, he declared that “the people have a clear idea of who I am” and offered to put his resume up against Markey’s anytime.

“It’s a question of trust,” Gomez said.

Markey did a terrible job of defending his record, but he almost shouldn’t have to, because the more voters see of mystery man Gomez, the more he looks like an empty flight jacket.

Rick Holmes

The shorter the campaign, the easier it is for a longshot unknown to pull off a surprise win. I have a feeling this campaign isn’t short enough for Gabriel Gomez.

A week before the special election for U.S. Senate, Gomez is something of a mystery man. Ask him any question, and the answer is he was a SEAL. Ask him again and he’ll say he’s had a successful career in the business world. But he won’t talk about what he did in the SEALs, and he won’t talk about what he worked on in the private sector.

At an ed board this week, I noted that he’d never held public office, never been involved in public policy, never been a legislator and, other than the military, never worked in government. In the private sector, would you hire someone with so little direct experience? What if you needed heart surgery?

He said serving in the Senate isn’t the same thing as heart surgery. OK, but that doesn’t make it an easy job. Doing it right takes brains, initiative, courage, judgement, and a dozen other skills. What in Gomez’ background shows he has those things? He won’t say.

But Gomez does show a penchant for saying things that just aren’t true. In the first debate he declared Markey had authored no significant legislation in 20 years. In the final debate, he declared that “the people have a clear idea of who I am” and offered to put his resume up against Markey’s anytime.

“It’s a question of trust,” Gomez said.

Markey did a terrible job of defending his record, but he almost shouldn’t have to, because the more voters see of mystery man Gomez, the more he looks like an empty flight jacket.